Effiecient salt setting for Fleck 5600STX 48000

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Mikej908

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I have Fleck 5600STX 48000 and the built in meter is not very accurate. It's more than my actual usage, almost double. So I've been playing around with the DO setting to regen after a certain number of days. And lowering my H setting to make it regen later. I still need to make some adjustments because I have about 2 days of hard water. Not sure if I need to change the bf setting or C setting too...
Below are my settings. Daily usage about 500 gal.

.5GPM
1.5 salt/min

Df gal
Vt dflb
Ct FD
Nt 1
C 34 (need help)
H 15 (actual hardness is 23. adjust this because of inaccurate meter?)
Rs rc
Rc 0
Do 7 (adjust this because of inaccurate meter?)
Rt 5am
Bw 10
Bd 60
Rr 10
Bf 8 (need help)
Fm t0.7

Any advice is appreciated. Thanks.
 

Reach4

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Which looks like your flow-measuring device at the back of your controller?
index.php
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Having the controller metering think you are using twice as much water as you are would make the softener regenerate more frequently, not less frequently. Having two days of hard water means that you should generate more frequently, or there is something wrong... are you using the expected 12 pounds of salt for each regen? You should be using a 40 pound bag of salt every 3.33 regenerations with your 8 minute brine fill.

DO sets an upper limit on how many days between regen. You will regen if the DO days have elapsed, or if the softener computes that you have used up your capacity. How often is the softener regenerating currently?
 
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Mikej908

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Hi Reach. I have the turbine meter.
You're right, I need to regen more frequently, not less. I should increase the H setting, but I'm trying to figure out what I should adjust so that I don't waste too much salt. I'm not sure how much salt I'm using. It's regening about every 4 days, with about 1-2 days with hard water.
Are my C and bf settings correct for my usage?
Thanks
 

Reach4

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The big change you need is to raise H (hardness) from 15 to 23. You could change H to 25 to give it a little margin. That puts things the right way. So if you changed just one number, it would be to raise H.

C you could leave at 34, although 36 would be what you would usually expect for 1.5 cubic ft of resin with 12 pound total

Your Rs and RC reserve capacity are not doing the reserve. Note I changed those settings in my suggestion below.

Using 500 gallons per day is a lot of water. Note that the outside hose bibs and irrigation are normally piped with non-softened water. So if you are watering your lawn, the water bill will show a lot more usage than runs through the softener. Suppose you have 5 people that run 240 gallons total per day through the softener. Here are complete settings for that:

System info (not programmed)
salt lb/cuft = 8 ; A choice ( efficiency vs capacity)
BLFC = 0.5 ; Brine Refill rate GPM
cubic ft resin = 1.5 ; ft3 resin = (nominal grains)/32,000
Raw hardness = 16 ; including any compensation
People = 5 ; gallons affects reserve calc (RC)
Estimated gal/day = 300 ; 60 gal per person typical calc
Estimated days/regen = 6.5 ; Computed days ignoring reserve

Fleck 5600SXT Settings:
DF = Gal ; Units
VT = dF1b ; Downflw/Upflw, Single Backwash
CT = Fd ; Meter Delayed regen trigger
NT = 1 ; Number of tanks
C = 36.0 ; capacity in 1000 grains
H = 23 ; Hardness-- compensate higher if needed
RS = rc ; rc says use gallons vs percent
RC = 300 ; Reserve capacity gallons
DO = 28 ; Day Override
RT = 4:00 ; Regen time (default 2 AM)
BW = 5 ; Backwash (minutes)
Bd = 60 ; Brine draw minutes
RR = 5 ; Rapid Rinse minutes
BF = 8 ; Brine fill minutes
FM = usually t0.7 ; flow meter, make note of what is there

I put down 4 AM for your regen. I figure you put 5 AM for a reason, but maybe you were thinking of when regen should end rather than when it should start. To make up for past insufficient regens, you could pour an extra 4 gallons of water into the brine tank 2 hours or more before an extra early regen.

If you are only getting 2 days of soft water, there is a problem. You might indeed be using a lot of water through the softener. Or the brine fill or draw may not be working right. Watch for salt usage. If you are not using 12 pounds per regen, fix your system. To work around the symptoms you gave, set DO to 2 to force regen every 2 days. But if that workaround is needed, something needs cleaning or fixing otherwise.
 
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Bannerman

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Is the softener newly installed or was it installed and working properly for some time in the past? If new, ensure the meter is measuring the outgoing water to the house, not the incoming water to the softener. The outgoing water exits the left connection when facing the softener from the front. If the turbine is installed incorrectly, it will not measure accurately.

Edited to add: Check the FM setting to ensure it is appropriate for a turbine and not a paddle wheel meter.

Is your water source municipal or a private well? While you specify the hardness amount, if the water is from a private well, there may also be iron or manganese which is also consuming softening capacity. If so, the hardness setting will need to be set higher than the just the hardness amount. If a private well, do you have up to date lab test results?

As the resin's entire capacity had been exhausted, capacity will need to be restored by regenerating with 18 lbs salt per cuft of resin. Your 48K unit contains 1.5 of resin so 27 lbs salt would be required for the next regeneration cycle. As each gallon of water entering the brine tank will dissolve 3 lbs salt, 9 gallons water will be needed. Your current 8 minute 'BF' X 0.5 gpm BLFC = 4 gallons already in the brine tank so you could add an additional 5 gallons with a bucket. After adding water, wait 2 hours for the additional salt to dissolve before initiating a manual regen cycle.

The current 12 lb salt setting is appropriate to regenerate 36,000 grains once total capacity has been restored. Capacity can then be set to 36. The 'H' setting is currently unknown until it is established if there is iron or manganese in your water.
 
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Mikej908

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Thanks reach and banner. I'll definitely adjust the H setting and manually add water to the tank, just in case the resin needs regenerating.
I'm on municipal water and the softener was newly installed and there were no hard water days because of frequent regens (higher H setting), but my salt consumption was a lot. I would have 5 bags of 40lbs salt pellets in the tank and it'll be almost depleted within a month.
Reach, I'll have to double check my daily usage. The two times I checked it's around 450-500. The softener is right after the company meter and another meter I bought to double check their reading. So every water goes through the softener. I have to use the bypass to water plants.
I'm wondering, when does one need to use the full 48k capacity?
Thanks
 

Reach4

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I'm wondering, when does one need to use the full 48k capacity?
Mostly for marketing IMO. o_O It is a convention by now.

The resin can give that much capacity if it is regenerated with 15 pounds of salt per cuft or more. By using 8 or 6 pounds of salt per cuft, you get more capacity per pound. See the table at the bottom of http://www.qualitywaterassociates.com/softeners/sizingchart.htm But also look through other info on that page.
I still need to make some adjustments because I have about 2 days of hard water.
That is what I was calling hard water days.

So every water goes through the softener. I have to use the bypass to water plants.
So the water you use in bypass would not count toward the softener reading. Let's be clear: do you think the metering on the softener over-estimates or under-estimates water flow?

Sounds like you could invest in a plumber to hook up an outside hose bib to water from before the softener, you could save some significant messing around if you do much watering.
 
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Bannerman

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You initially indicated that the softener is calculating water use at almost 2X that which you actually use. As we now know your water source is municipal, it appears you are comparing the softener reading against a municipal meter usually used for billing purposes. As such, the municipal meter should be most accurate as your water bill will be based on that measurement.

As previously stated, verify that the softener settings are appropriate for a turbine meter as the two meter types sense and report flow differently. If the softener is incorrectly programmed to expect information from a paddle wheel meter when a turbine is actually installed, then the softener's water use calculations will indeed be totally incorrect. Likewise, verify that the turbine is measuring the outlet port from the softener, not the inlet port.

These verification's are suggested as a means to establish the reason the softener's meter is reading higher than the billing meter. The billing meter should be higher as it measures all water consumed whereas the softener's meter should only be recording the softened water consumed by the home's occupants, not water utilized for softener regeneration or water which bypasses the softener.

By your comments above, you appear to be surprised by the amount of salt required to operate your new softener and expected you could reduce salt consumption without affecting the amount of water it could soften. Similar to your vehicle consuming fuel when it is operating, the amount of salt needed to regenerate softening capacity is directly related to the amount of capacity that is consumed and needing to be restored. While you had mentioned wasting salt as though consuming it is a waste, in practice, salt is the fuel which is required to operate the softener. Your concern would rightly be best directed at utilizing it efficiently.

Your water contains a significant amount of hardness and at 500 gallons/day, your consumption rate is quite substantial. As it is most unlikely to obtain your water from a source with less hardness, perhaps it is possible to reduce your water consumption requirements by modifying existing practices or by utilizing higher efficiency fixtures and appliances.

How many people reside in your home? With efficient fixtures and appliances, the average US consumption rate is now typically estimated as roughly 60 gallons or less per person per day.
 
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Mikej908

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Thanks for both your inputs.
The settings and installment for the meter was done properly. So I'm going to change the C, H, and RC settings as suggested. Also, I'll add 4-5 gals of water to the tank then regen.
I'm going find ways to save of water consumption as well. We have 4 ppl here that apparently uses a lot of water...
Thanks again for both your help.
 

King

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Instead of starting a new post I just wanted to know if I have my softner set correctly for salt efficiency. I have a new 48000 fleck 5600 sxt. I have city water. I live alone but have kids over on the weekends.

My current Fleck 5600SXT Settings:
DF = Gal
VT = dF1b
CT = Fd
NT = 1
C = 3o
H = 19
RS = 10
DO = 9
RT = 2 am
BW = 10
Bd = 60
RR = 10
BF = 6
FM = .7

Any input or suggestions would be much appreciated.
Thank you.
 

Reach4

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Your reserve is set to 10% of 30000 grains. That might be right for about 2.5 people with your hardness. If you have a bigger bunch taking showers and such, and you are getting close on capacity, you can poke the button to schedule a regen tonight.

I prefer the RC capacity in gallons as in #4 above. Gallons seems more understandable than percent.

You could also raise DO to maybe 28. Your BF is good for your 0.5 BLFC.

If you are late people, you might move RT to maybe 3 am. I don't know if you change your time for daylight time. I don't. So I pick a time that would be OK summer and winter.
 

King

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Thank you for your advise. Would there be any bacteria or other issues with water getting foul if I change DO to 28 days.
 

Reach4

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Thank you for your advise. Would there be any bacteria or other issues with water getting foul if I change DO to 28 days.
Not with chlorinated water.
 
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